Salvation and Mercy
by celebreultimaverba
Summary: Matthew, an angel, saves Maria, a woman who completely deserved Hell. Maria wakes almost a year after her death, alive, healthy, and head over heels for someone she's never truly met. Matthew travels to Earth to find her, however, the atmosphere of Earth is poisonous to angels, and the clock is ticking. There's also the problem of making her falling in love with him...
1. Chapter 1

**Notes: Fem!Prussia, human names used, and I can see swearing, mentions of drug use, abuse, and possibly smut in future chapters . . . but we'll see, so M for safety.**

Matthew was never comfortable in Hell. Not that he was ever supposed to be, being an angel, but he could honestly say he _hated_ Hell.

Hell appeared as a plane that expanded forever in every direction. The "ground" in Hell looked like some sort of thick, darkened glass that held up over a lake of fire. Doors were always on either side of oneself, and new ones appeared every few seconds.

There was so much to hate in Hell, whether it be the crushing darkness, the unbearable heat and, somehow, unbearable cold, the vertigo one felt whenever they looked in any direction, or even the demon escorting him.

Despite all there was to hate, if Matthew was really honest with himself, the thing that he hated the most about Hell was the screams of tortured souls that could not be ignored or silenced.

Not that any of these other things weren't uncomfortable. Matthew was sweating and shivering at the same time, trying not to fall over whenever he blinked, and the demon escorting him was quite an ugly little thing. It was also uncomfortable, being in the presence in an angel.

Matthew knew he was taking too much time to do his job, but couldn't quite bring himself to care much more than he already did. Mercy couldn't be given to just any tortured soul . . .

He closed his eyes, simultaneously trying to calm his nauseous stomach and casting out his senses past the doors on either side of him. His senses caught that the demon relaxed a bit as he did this.

Past the doors, the tortured souls had no place in Heaven or Earth. Except . . . Matthew's eyes snapped open and he heard the demon's neck crack as its head turned quickly to look at him.

Even with his eyes open, he could still feel the brush of the same soul. It was easily the best feeling he had ever experienced. Right behind this door . . .

Matthew paid no mind when the demon accompanying him made protests. He slammed the unassuming ebony door open.

If it was possible, his heart would have shattered. The noises of a tortured soul became infinitely louder, driving itself right into Matthew's chest.

While souls were normally bright, this one hurt to look at. Matthew couldn't stop, though. It wasn't as if his eyes could be hurt.

Somewhere, the demon was talking, but Matthew couldn't hear. He was kneeling next to the soul, trying to relieve its pain with his naturally cold hands. Though he could not know what pain it was in, what its personal hell was like, he felt the need to take its pain away.

The soul quieted, recognizing that something was near that wanted to help it. It seemed to be listening to Matthew's soothing whispers of comfort. Not that Matthew could prove any of this, though, as souls could not communicate with angels outside of Heaven.

"You're stunning. How did you ever end up in hell? I can't even fathom . . . well, no matter. My name's Matthew. I'm going to send you back soon, okay? I'll come find you, but it's up to you to recognize me," he finished, hands resting on what would be the sides of the soul's face.

From around his neck, Matthew brought a crystal cross. He placed it into the soul's chest, right where the heart would be, and had to close his eyes as the light grew unbearably bright.

When he opened them again, he was back in Heaven. The sun was shining, as always, reflecting off of the white and gold, but he felt no warmth coming from it. Instead, a quiet emptiness numbed him, and he didn't like it. _Could it be because of the soul?_

He had heard of this kind of thing from Francis. _What were they called? Soul mates?_ It sounded right, the name for two souls, two halves of a whole, the kind of love most humans only dreamed of. And now, judging from the feeling, it sounded like Matthew had found it, and it scared him quite a bit.

Before he had enough time to sort out his thoughts, Matthew's brother, Alfred, ran up to him. "Yo, bro! I just . . . hey, what's up with you? It looks like you've seen a . . . a ghost! Aah! What did it do to you, Mattie? Tell me!"

Matthew couldn't help but curse his brother. Why did he have to be so stupid, yet so perceptive? He almost wished that right now he was invisible, like he was normally. "No, Alfred, I didn't see a ghost. I just got back from Hell."

"Oh. Then why do you seem different?"

"Different how?"

"Like . . . changed. Hollower and . . . blank? It's kinda hard to explain, dude. I think you need a vacay or somethin'," Alfred said, brushing him off.

"Maybe I do. Do you know how someone gets a transfer to Earth?"

"Earth? For a vacation? No, dude, I meant somewhere _nice._ Maybe Eden, or something."

"Alfred, please," Matthew sighed.

"I dunno, bro. Hey, Arthur!" he yelled, waving to a blonde angel passing by.

Said angel made his way over to the two with an annoyed expression on his face. "What is it, git?"

For an angel, Arthur sure did have a dirty mouth. "Arthur, do you know how to go to Earth? Matthew wants to visit."

"Matthew? Oh. Why would you want to go to _Earth?"_ Arthur asked.

Matthew shrugged. "Can you just tell me how to do it?" he asked.

Arthur took a few seconds to think. Matthew was normally very patient, but he was quickly getting annoyed at how long this was taking. He was well aware of the time difference between Heaven, Hell, and Earth, and minutes in Heaven could be days or even weeks on Earth.

"Go to the transfer desk. I think you can request Earth if you have enough Grace to do it. Just don't stay too long, I guess," Arthur mumbles, then turned away from Matthew to talk to Alfred.

Matthew nodded unnecessarily and left, hearing a few seconds later, from across the way, Alfred's loud voice saying, "OH MY GOSH WHERE DID HE GO HE WAS RIGHT HERE A SECOND AGO ARTHUR ARTHUR MATTHEW'S GONE HE'S A GHOST ARTHUUUUUUR!"

An equally loud voice answered him. "SHUT UP YOU YANK!"

Matthew had to try three times to get the transfer desk angel's attention. When she did notice him, he had to repeat himself three times before she realized what he was asking for. "Earth? Without a vessel? It's dangerous, you realize. The atmosphere is poisonous to angels."

"I know. I'll only be a little while. Six months at most," Matthew said quietly. That, he knew, could easily become a lie. If he found his soul, he wasn't ever going to leave.

"That's fine. More than a year there, though, and you won't be able come back. Another six months, and you're gone," she warned.

Matthew could think about the consequences later. "I'll be back before then," he promised.

The angel nodded. "All right, then. You will be provided with a guide, a credit card with enough on it for you to live comfortably, and proper identification, charts, and knowledge. Now, where would you like to be transferred?"

"Earth."

"Where, exactly, on Earth?" the angel asked patiently.

"Oh. Right. Do you have a map?"

The angel handed him a large, color-coded map of all of Earth. His eyes landed on a large mass of land, colored violet, in North America. Canada. "Ca-na-da," he tried the word out on his tongue. Yes, he liked the sound of it. "Canada. Ottawa. Please."

She nodded, made a few notes in the book in front of her, then looked him in the eyes and snapped her fingers.

**A/N So I shall be trying this new story out! The chapters will probably switch between POVs, and this is, in fact, my first multichapter anything, so please tell me if you notice any errors. Yes, this is going to be a PruCan fanfic with some side pairings such as GerIta. Feel free to review and tell me what you think!**

**Disclaimer: (O_O) I don't own anything! (O_O)**


	2. Chapter 2

When Maria woke up, she screamed and knocked over an urn. It shattered and scattered gray dust over the pristine white carpet. Was that ash? _Oh, god, I knocked over a burial urn. Scheiße._

The crash of the broken urn echoed for a little bit longer than her shrill scream did, reverberating around the extremely clean room she was in. A christmas tree stood in the corner, already decorated and still lit, and she stood in front of a mantle with two stockings hung.

Just as she realized she was completely naked, she heard heavy footfalls almost immediately from the upstairs of the house, and a woman screaming, also from upstairs. A gruff voice she recognized started yelling in German. "Wer sind Sie? Sie sollen aus unserem Haus, bevor ich Ihre Gehirne ausblasen!"

She didn't know how she should react. "West! Es ist mir, Maria! Bitte nicht schießen!" Better ask him not to kill her before anything else.

The footsteps stopped, but the woman still was screaming. "Feliciano! Please stop screaming!" her brother ordered the woman.

Feliciano? That was a weird name for a girl, but she stopped screaming.

The footsteps sounded closer, but less angry. It sounded like Ludwig was wary of her. She decided not to say anything to him, in case he startled and she was no more.

Her baby brother's pistol came around the door frame before he did.

She composed her face into a smile. "West! Bet you weren't expecting me! Sorry it's been so long."

Ludwig's face was white. "How . . .?"

Maria shrugged. "I don't know. Last thing I remember, I was somewhere in New York . . . where am I now?"

"My house. We're in Ottawa. Canada."

Maria's grin fell. She really had no idea how to act around Ludwig. It had been over two years since she had last seen her baby brother. "I'm sorry. I haven't seen you in a while . . ."

Ludwig stuttered. "You-you were DEAD!"

"Um, no . . . I know I haven't seen you in a few years, but I was never dead," Maria replied. She had decided to regress into her old attitude around him, and change it as needed.

"No, we _burned_ you. Those ashes you knocked over are yours. How?"

Maria had forgotten about the urn. "Oh, sorry I broke that . . . I guess I'm just awesome. Out of curiosity, who's Feliciano?"

She wanted to change the subject from herself, because she really had nothing more than Ludwig did. Ludwig sighed, knowing this, and obliged her. "FELI? CAN YOU COME DOWN HERE?"

Light footsteps descended the staircase. "Ve~ Luddy, is the bad guy gone?"

Maria tried not to look too surprised, not only at the fact her brother had a significant other, but at the fact his significant other was a guy, and a cute one at that. How did her stern, blonde-haired, constipated-with-his-feelings baby brother land the cute, auburn-haired, hazel-eyed, also-completely-nude man next to him?

"Good job with this one, West," she mumbled, and Ludwig pretended not to hear her.

"Ludwig, who's this? Is she an old girlfriend? Why is she naked?" Feliciano asked, latching himself onto Ludwig's left arm, the one not holding the loaded gun.

"Feliciano, this is my sister, Maria. You haven't met her, because up until just now, she has been gone for almost a year, and more than two years before that."

Feliciano looked rightly confused. "Your dead sister?"

Maria interjected. "I'm not dead, obviously. It's cold, can I get some clothes?"

Ludwig nodded and turned to Feliciano. "She can probably fit in something of yours. Get some trousers and a shirt for her, please."

When Feliciano left, Ludwig turned back to his newly resurrected sister. "It's too late for this. I'm not sure if this is a dream or a nightmare or what, but you can stay for the night and I'll ask you questions tomorrow."

"What is tomorrow?" she asked him.

"Tomorrow's Sunday. Christmas. You came back exactly a day before the one-year anniversary of your death."

_Are those tears?_ Maria couldn't believe that her estranged brother was crying for her. And _how_ long did he say she was dead?

The siblings stood there, staring at each other in mutual disbelief, until Feliciano returned with a pair of boxers, sweat pants, and a white button-up shirt. "Ve~ If you need better underclothes, we can look through Feliks' things that he left here last time."

Maria briefly questioned why someone name Feliks, who she assumed was a man, needed women's underwear, but quickly dismissed the thought as Ludwig started talking again. "You can use the guest room. If you feel poorly, Feli and I will be right next door."

Maria nodded and started getting her borrowed clothing on. "So, Feliciano," she started once she was fully dressed, "are you living with my little brother here? When did you two meet? I didn't even know his door swung that way, and just looking at you, I wouldn't have guessed yours did, either."

"What do doors have to do with anything? Call me Feli," the auburn man replied, ignoring her other questions.

"Never mind that," Ludwig interjected. "Maria, the guest room is the second door to the right. It has it's own bathroom. Please try not to make a mess."

Maria nodded, sensing Ludwig wanted to talk to Feliciano, and took his directions up the stairs, noticing a few pictures of him and Feliciano on the way, along with a short, black-haired man.

The guest room was just as immaculate as the rest of the house, mostly black, white, and red, and without much personality. Maria quickly rushed to the bathroom.

The girl who stared back at her in the mirror looked nothing like she remembered. For one, she had no scars, no bruises, her eyes weren't bloodshot, she looked well-fed and healthy instead of emaciated, she saw no needle marks, she hadn't noticed any twitching, and her platinum blonde hair looked absolutely _fabulous._

"I'm really hot," she whispered, before whooping and shouting, "WEST, I'M REALLY HOT!"

No response. No matter, she didn't care much. She also wasn't tired in the slightest. Maybe a hot shower was in order, and a good long think.

The warm water felt amazing after the chill of being naked in Ludwig's living room. She let it run over her, not bothering to wash, instead musing over what Ludwig had said.

_I was dead and just . . . came back? That seems like something I would do, but how? The last thing I remember was being in the red light district in NYC. What happened after that? Ivan . . . no, he wasn't there, I hadn't seen him in a few days. So someone else? Or did I do it myself?_ She didn't think she was the type to commit suicide. _Maybe it wasn't intentional. Did I overdose? Probably. Wouldn't have been the first time._

_The real problem, though, isn't how I died but how I came back. Where was I? Did I go to Heaven? No, if I went somewhere, it was to hell. But I don't remember anything, just warmth, and cool hands on the side of my face. I don't think that's what Hell is like. If it was, then what's Heaven for?_

Her head hurt when she stepped out of the shower, and she decided to sleep. _Where are Ludwig's pills, I wonder?_

_It's strange,_ Maria thought as she rooted through the bathroom's drawers. _I'm just looking for something to help me get to sleep, and not anything else. Could my dependency have gone? I guess I _did_ go cold turkey for a while._

Sleeping pills found, Maria popped one into her mouth and settled into the queen-sized bed. Sleep came quickly, and she didn't dream.

*Shit.

*Who are you? You should get out of our house before I blow your brains out!

*West! It's me, Maria! Please don't shoot!

**A/N Chapter two! Please feel free to review and tell me what you think!**


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